90 ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA. 



Addenda et Corrigenda. 



"the FRENCH IN VAN DIEMEN'S LAND." 



(See Royal Society's Transactions, 1888.) 



P. 101, Note. — The name "Australia." — In a despatch to Lord 

 Bathurst, dated April 4th, 1817, Governor Macquarie says — 

 " The Continent of Australia, which I hope will be the name 

 given to this country in future, instetfd of the very erroneous 

 and misapplied name hitherto given it, of New Holland, 

 which, properly speaking, only applies to a part of this 

 immense continent." — Labilliere's " Early History of Vic- 

 toria," i., 184. 



P. 100, line 3. — " Quiros' Terre du St. Esprit, the coast 

 between Cooktown and Townsville." — It is so placed by De 

 Brosses in the chart appended to his " Navigations aux Terres 

 Australes." It is now identified as the island of Espiritu 

 Santo, one of the New Hebrides group. 



P. 103, line 16.— "Cox (1789)."— Through inadvertence 

 Cox is mentioned as having touched at Adventure Bay. 

 He did not enter Storm Bay, but visited Oyster Bay and 

 Maria Island. 



P. 110, line 9. — " In spite of his safe conduct from the French 

 Admiralty, [Flinders'] ship was seized as a prize." — In a 

 pamphlet pubHshed in Sydney in 1886, containing a summary 

 of the contents of the Brabourne Papers, it is stated that 

 amongst the despatches' carried by the Cumberland was one 

 from Governor King pointing out the opportunities which 

 Port Jackson afforded for the concentration of troops, which 

 might at any time be sent against the Spaniards in South 

 America, and it is suggested that the discovery of this de-. 

 spatch amongst Flinders' papers gave Governor De Caen a 

 plausible excuse for the detention of the English navigator. 

 It is difficult to believe that this surmise has any sufficient 

 foundation, since, if such a despatch had come to the hands 

 of De Caen, he would certainly have produced it as a justifica- 

 tion of his action, and would not have been driven to the 

 paltry pretext drawn from an entry in Flinders' journal. 



It may be mentioned that in a paper dated 1809 — while 

 Flinders was still a prisoner — Governor King states that 

 there was no doubt that the French entertained the design of 

 attacking New South Wales from Mauritius. He says that 

 Baudin had taken correct plans of Port Jackson, and had 

 explored the passage to Mauritius through Bass Straits, and 

 that had he lived another year the Commodore would most 

 likely have visited the colony for the purpose of annihilating 

 the settlement. — Labilliere's " Early History of Victoria," i., 

 121. See also Jorgensen's Autobiography in Ross's "Hobart 

 Town Almanack for 1835," p. 138. 



